


Lonely Night

by AkumaDetective (RidingtheGrid)



Category: Mandrake Boys (Visual Novel)
Genre: Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22332655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RidingtheGrid/pseuds/AkumaDetective
Summary: In his one day only fortunetelling house, Raffle finds himself alone and spending some time on his one day way from Red River sheltered from the snow storm.
Kudos: 1





	Lonely Night

_Sigh._ If it wasn’t for the sound of the wind and snow swirling around the building, banging on the walls, that sigh would have been the only sound heard. It was quiet and empty, much more than usual on Christmas day. Often people would trickle in, one at a time with pause in between to be told their fortune and answer their questions.

Today was not such a day and by now it was late into the night with not a whimper from the door.

The cold air that kept creeping in was the mandrake’s only companion as his luck felt like it was always getting worse. His fire had long since went out that would have kept it at bay. Normally Raffle took such good care to make sure the fire stayed strong throughout the whole day, but the slow traffic ended up putting him to sleep.

“Of course a snowstorm would happen. Maybe I should have given myself a fortune so I would have been better prepared.” He grumbled as he moved to his feet. “There’s always a chance, so I’ll finish off the day; but to think the fire’s left me, heh.”

There wasn’t much the mandrake could say. He was alone in a building surrounded by a snowstorm and now he had to try to get the fire started all over again. Preparing the wood, setting the kindle, and getting it going into a roaring flame wasn’t much trouble. The cold that was biting at his skin was the problem. Rubbing his arms Raffle tried to warm up against the newly created companion while closing his eyes for the briefest of moments.

“Maybe that person really did put a curse on me last year.” The words came out before a loud laugh followed after. “That’d be _scary_ if such a customer could just curse me! The worst customers cursing the poor fortune teller for doing his job.” Oh now he was started.

Feeling a bit warmer Raffle moved back over to his chair and melted into the soft warm velvet cushion as he continued his little banter to himself.

“ ‘I’ll curse you for cursing me to be lonely!’ And now I’m the one lonely on Christmas the next year ‘round. Not a single customer in sight. Not, really, much in sight at all but snow. Could it really be telling her she’d be lonely would get her that upset?” Scratching the back of his neck and staring up at the ceiling with soft eyes full of reminiscence. “I can’t remember how many times I’ve had a customer like that. They happen, and they always are a surprise. I really should up my game. Maybe I’ll be able to ‘fortune’ the bad customers and know to prepare so I won’t get so surprised when they start yelling at me.”

Laughter was quick to start bellowing from him once more as he thought it all through. Oh the messes bad fortunes could cause. Anger, sadness, desperation. While the good ones caused such joy or sometimes even nervousness. His job was always interesting.

As long as there was someone coming through the door.


End file.
